Application Tracking in eVision

Hello!

If we haven’t already met, my name’s Connor Finlayson and I’m working in Applicant Experience (within External Relations) from late April until July. I’m working on a SITS enhancement project centered around ‘My Applications’ as part of my postgraduate studies.

Having said that, I’ve been a student ambassador for ages – and that’s taken me everywhere: Dollar, Manchester, West Park (truly exotic), ‘the void’ and I reckon at least 100 times around campus with tour groups. I’ve seen this university as an applicant, a distance learner, an undergraduate, a postgraduate and a staff member, and spoken to hundreds of applicants and prospective students in my time here.

What’s the problem we’re trying to solve?

Application tracking

How might we provide useful, timely and informative updates to applicants on the status of their application(s) through ‘My Applications’ on eVision?

eVision experience

How might we improve the user experience of ‘My Applications’ (including tasks and document requests) to encourage applicant engagement with eVision, reducing pressure on our Admissions and Enquiry Teams?

Why are we trying to solve it?

Engagement and conversion

In 2018/9, according our last applicant survey (n=796), ~50% of our applicants received an offer from other universities before Dundee, and also rated the communications they received from us during the admissions process as an important factor in their decision.

~22% indicated that the time it took to receive their offer from Dundee was an important factor in their decision to accept or decline.

Keeping our applicants engaged and informed should therefore be a core priority for us, ensuring that applicants are aware of and can carry out the tasks required of them to progress their application.

Relief for Admissions and Enquiry Teams

Completing this project will help to reduce the pressure on the Admissions and Enquiry Teams from applicants looking for updates or assistance with eVision.

A key measurable aim of this project will be to reduce the number of enquiries from students regarding CAS/application updates leading up to matriculation, and to reduce the number of delays to applications caused by pending requests for information by making the process as simple as possible.

What about OneUniversity?

For now and for the future

While eVision will eventually be replaced by OneUniversity, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive for service improvement until then. The documentation of this project will ensure that the development process and thinking behind design decisions will be able to inform any future software development.

So what’s next?

April / May 2019

Continue to gather information and data from staff, students, systems and applicants to inform the project requirements.